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Flowers high on Viciedo's defense, bat

Flowers high on Viciedo's defense, bat

Tyler Flowers

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CHICAGO -- Any player who makes an injury rehab appearance with Triple-A Charlotte, such as Jake Peavy, or has played for the Knights usually gets hit with the same question upon arriving in Chicago. What was their opinion of Dayan Viciedo?

Tyler Flowers, called up on Sunday to replace the injured Ramon Castro, offered up resounding praise for his teammate.

"He looks ready. He looks good," Flowers said. "His defense has really progressed since spring. First time I saw him in spring, he was a little shaky. You saw by the end of spring he got a lot better quickly, and he's been very good out there."

Viciedo is hitting .325 with 24 doubles, 16 homers and 62 RBIs, and hit cleanup for the World Team in Sunday's XM All-Star Futures Game. In talking with Viciedo recently, Flowers doesn't sense a feeling of frustration in the right-handed slugger having not been promoted.

"I really respect a guy for not being too frustrated about it," Flowers said. "Obviously, he wants to be here. But he's still working hard at getting better.

"He's been impressive to watch the past few years, honestly. One of my favorite guys to be around."